I met three Angels
by DancingStar01
Summary: Because Connor spoils the team s Christmas, he is visited by three angels.


Title: I met three angels  
Author: Dancing Star  
Pair: Doyle / Donner  
Spoiler: Season 1  
Summaries: Because Connor spoils the team´s Christmas, he is visited by three angels.  
Comments: I think I don´t have to say I LOVE Christmas and it was soooo hard to chose Christmas Songs for this story! Actually all Christmas Songs are great… Greetings to NubianGeek! On your website I found a similar story and when I read it my story was almost done (what was already in November!). I'm a fan of your stories and please don´t think I wanna imitate you!  
I wish you all a Merry Christmas, many presents and lots of snow!

**I met three angels **

"Merry Christmas, all together," said Peter Axon, when he put the last box of records on the shelf. It was December the 23rd and the team hadn´t planned to spend the holidays here. Their last client didn´t want to spend the holiday with the OSIR, too. So Peter was in high spirits.  
Lindsay watched him a little nervous: Peter was in a really good temper. Then she breathed deeply and entered the meeting room where Connor Doyle was sitting alone and studied some reports. She had thought about what to say, how she wanted to invite him to come to skiing with her. She was happy to work with him and enjoyed being with him. Day and night, she pondered if he had probably noticed by now that Lindsay... She dared not to think about: that she was in love him. If they weren´t together, she missed him sorely. She had to think constantly of him, and she dreamed of him. When he looked at her a thousand butterflies were fluttering through her. Yes, Lindsay was damn sure she loved him and she wanted him and no one else... She thought he would probably fire her straightaway if she confessed. She had no idea how it happened at all and she decided she didn´t want to think longer, it was not so.  
She took again a deep breath. "Um ... I wanted to ask ... I...", what was wrong with her? Now she began to stutter. "I wanted to ask if you´re available on Christmas and maybe you want to come skiing with me?"  
"No, thank you. Here´s a lot of work for me", Connor didn´t even look at her when he told her this and he didn´t see how troubled she was and how she exhaled disappointed. She nodded a bit sad and left the conference room. Outside the room, Anton and Peter were still busy cleaning up their equipment. Tomorrow was Christmas Eve and they had big plans for the holidays: "I'm going to Toronto to visit my brother," said Anton, "My niece has opened a book store and the opening ceremony is tomorrow. I'm really looking forward. And you, Lindsay?", Anton grinned at her.  
"Oh, I don´t know," she said a little indifferent and helped them with cleaning up, "Maybe skiing. Actually I wanted to go with Claire, but as you know, she broke her leg." Claire was in hospital since five days with a broken leg. She tried ice skating five days ago and then she had an accident.  
The door to the conference room opened and Connor came out. His team was still cleaning up. "What are you doing?"  
"We wanted to drive home for the holidays ..."  
Peter hadn´t finished the sentence, when Connor said: "No one drives home for holidays. Our case is a top priority! Although we were asked to stay in background during the holidays I see no need to leave the client now."  
"Come on! Just for holidays! My sister had delivered a baby and I haven´t seen my niece until now!"  
"I said no," Connor re-entered the meeting room, closed the door and the rest of the team was left behind. Disappointed, they looked at each other. So much for the contemplative and relaxing holidays, they wanted to spend! "What can we do? At least he didn´t forbid us after work", said Peter sarcastically.  
"No idea," said Lindsay, "it's raining outside." The rain drummed on the mobile lab´s roof. She had heard the Christmas concert by Celine Dion in the city took place outside today. So it wasn´t a good idea to spend the evening there, on the other hand it didn´t matter. She probably spends her holidays once again alone in front of the TV... Alternatively, she would like to visit her mother. That was before Connor had forbidden them to leave.  
"Hopefully he won´t mind if we go out for dinner this evening", said Peter, looking with a dark glance to Connor, who had again sat down at the meeting room´s table and read. Anton and Lindsay nodded in agreement and decided to let Connor know where they were and where he could reach them. Then they set off. In the city was supposedly a good Mexican restaurant. Connor was left alone in the dark mobile lab.

The later it got, the more tired was Connor. He had planned to work through the night to be done with the reports tomorrow morning. But eventually the letters swam before his eyes and his eyelids grew heavy. He fell asleep after all. First he dreamed he was on a field. The sun was shining and it was pleasantly warm. Suddenly, the sun disappeared and he stood in a brightly lit room. "Hello?", he asked, his voice echoing. Now he also noticed he was completely in different clothes. Before he was asleep, he wore a suit, now he was dressed entirely in white. "What's going on?" , he asked himself  
"Surprised?", asked another voice and Connor turned around in a hurry.  
"Peter?"  
"No. I thought it would be easier for you, when I take the shape of someone you know."  
"Easy?", repeated Connor, "Am I dead?"  
"You're not dead, you're actually very much alive," confirmed the man who looked like Peter, "I am the Angel of Christmas Past."  
"Good joke! I saw the movie with Bill Murray... Besides, you're not an angel but a spirit", said Connor. The angel raised his eyebrows. He didn´t want to discuss with Connor, if he really was an angel or a ghost.  
"And even if this is true, then I don´t think I've earned your visit."  
Peter laughed. The Angel of Christmas Past knew Connor had ruined Christmas. "Of course, YOU have done everything right. It´s what you think. But that is precisely the reason why I'm here: I show you what you did wrong... Do you know what happened twenty-three years ago?", asked the angel and Connor said no.  
"I give you a hint: It has fundamentally changed Lindsay's attitude to Christmas," Peter looked at him and for a moment, everything around him was bathed in darkness. Then they found themselves in a completely strange place.

Twenty-three years ago, on Christmas evening, the thirteen-year-old Lindsay and her father were traveling in a helicopter. They had been in the city without her mother because Lindsay's father had presented one of his new books and because she had never been in the capital, she wanted to come along. She had forgotten why the helicopter crashed and Lindsay could still feel the pain of the impact, if she thought about it. When Lindsay woke up with a headache, she saw her father sitting next to the dead pilot. William Donner hung motionless in his seat belt and blood was dripping from his forehead. The air smelled disgusting of gasoline and copper.  
"Dad," she tried to wake him, "Dad! Wake up! Please!"  
Finally her dad opened the eyes. "Linds ..." he said, "Get outta here."  
"No," Lindsay cried.  
"You have to leave... The helicopter will explode ... go, Lindsay." Her father was unconscious again and Lindsay screamed. She called her dad and realized he would not wake up. A cracking sound reminded her of what he had said. She should go. So she left. In retrospect, she regretted it. Sometimes there were situations in which she wished she hadn´t left her father alone. Her mother took a long time until she had recovered from the shock. And Christmas was never the same again...  
The Thirteen-year-old Lindsay had left the little red helicopter in time. She wept bitterly when she sat in the darkness of the night on the field and watched as the small aircraft exploded with her father. The clouds in the sky broke into tears together with her. Connor and the Angel of Christmas Past observed her.  
"What I have to do with it?", asked Connor.  
"With that?", asked the angel, "With this accident you have nothing to do. But that is the reason why Lindsay sees Christmas with different eyes. "  
While the angel talked, Connor still watched as the thirteen-year-old Lindsay was sitting with sodden clothes on the field in some distance to the burning wreckage and cried her eyes out.  
"Can we help...?", Connor began and swallowed hard, but Peter shook his head. "She can´t hear or see us... Come, we must continue. There's something I would like to see... Can you still remember your Christmas party last year?", asked the angel and Connor nodded. Last year the team was also traveling at Christmas and Connor had invited everybody for dinner. At this evening it had also rained, Connor remembered. To pass the time they had played a game: Everyone should bring a photograph from childhood, without to involve the rest of the team who owned the picture. The others had to guess who the child on the photo was. Lindsay sat between Connor and Peter and when she held a photo of a pudgy preschooler in a snow suit in her hands, she leaned to Peter and asked him: "Who´ s this fat kid?" As she learned later the child on the photo was Peter himself and Lindsay apologized a thousand times to Peter, the other had a good laugh. Even if they had fun that night, Connor noticed some team members would have rather been with their families.  
After dinner, they said goodbye at the door of the restaurant. Connor and Lindsay had parked in the same parking lot, so he accompanied her. On the way to the parking lot they had to cross a bridge. The wood of the bridge was wet and slippery from the mist and on the highest point of the bridge Lindsay lost her footing. Connor caught her, pressed her to him and she smiled when he looked so deeply into her eyes. They had never been so close before and he asked himself seriously, how it would be to be together with her. He wanted to kiss her and a short picture flickered in his mind how he held Lindsay Donner in his arms on the bridge and their lips touched. He rejected the idea again when she said, smiling sweetly, "Thanks for catching me up."  
Connor knew they would continue the way to their cars now.  
"Why haven´t you kissed her?", Peter asked helplessly. He and Connor were now also on the wooden bridge, just a few feet behind the couple who was holding each other, "I mean, it would have been worse if she had said you were a stupid idiot and you should leave her alone. But she didn´t say." Peter went around the couple and numbered them. "The moment Lindsay was pleased again at Christmas, you broke everything."  
"You want an honest answer to the question why I haven´t kissed her?", asked Connor and the angel said: "I already know."  
The next moment they were in a dark hallway of a tenement. Connor recognized the hall immediately: This was where his former girlfriend lived. Meanwhile, he did not even remember how she looked at all but he still knew how their relationship had ended. At that time years ago he had thought he would die of grief because he had loved her seriously. Until then, she was the only woman with who he could imagine a future. Then, on Christmas Eve, he had come home unexpectedly. In fact, he had to work but the client had canceled on short notice. He wanted to surprise his girlfriend and visit her on Christmas Eve in her apartment. Because she didn´t answer the door, he searched for the spare key, entered the apartment and caught her with the guy from next door in bed. His girlfriend then held a big fight and gave him the blame because he was constantly on the move and had never time for her. He saw the scene, in which they fought clear and distinct again.  
In retrospect, Connor asked how long she had cheated him without he noticed something and he was also angry. Connor swore he would never come so close to a woman that it might harm himself.  
"You know, there is a saying. Time heals all wounds", the angel´s voice sounded far away.  
Connor also knew this saying. But he was not ready for... In fact, he had no idea for what he wasn´t ready. He was afraid he would disappoint a new woman in his life just as his former girlfriend. And he feared he would disappoint himself.  
The Angel of Christmas Past rolled his eyes. Of course he knew what Connor thought. He didn´t need to ask. And he decided he should leave him alone now. Connor should reflect. Suddenly, he wasn´t longer in the dark hallway, he found himself in the light-filled room where he had first met the angel.  
"Where are you going?", he asked when he saw the angel who looked like Peter went away. He received no answer and somehow Connor had the feeling his dream, it should actually be one, wasn´t over at this point.

_Now the air is getting cold at night _  
_And you say you have to leave _  
_On the weather report there is _  
_No Christmas in white _  
_But it's you and the snow that I need _

_Why does it rain on Christmas? _  
_When I'm wishing for some snow _  
_Why can´t you stay, if you'll miss me? _  
_Do you really have to go? _

_I know when Santa Claus is coming _  
_He will give me something _  
_But all I need is you and the snow _  
_Why does it rain on Christmas? _  
_I don´t know (" Why does it rain on Christmas?" By Sarah Connor) _

Connor was not alone in the light-filled room for a long time. He saw a moving point in the distance. After a few minutes he came to the conclusion this was a man who went to him. When the person came closer, he recognized him.  
"Anton?," asked Connor. As Peter or the Angel of Christmas Past before, the angel was wearing entirely white clothing. But then Connor remembered this was not the right Anton. So he said, "No, wait: The Angel of Christmas Present?"  
"Right," agreed Anton to him, "I don´t need tell you that..."  
"...you´ll show me what happened today and what I did wrong," added Connor and a strange smile on the angel´s face appeared. "We should waste no time," said the angel and the next moment he and Connor sat on a wooden surface and had the prospect of a huge room, decorated with furniture. The world suddenly seemed so big!  
Among them, a door opened and a woman pressed the light switch. The room was lit now.  
"Good night," Lindsay said wearily and another voice replied: "Yes, see you tomorrow."  
The angel showed Connor, how Lindsay just entered her hotel room after dinner with Peter and Anton.  
"Why do we sit on door frame?", asked Connor. He and the angel were tiny little people who were sitting on the door frame of Lindsay's hotel room. They had a good view to the room from here.  
They watched as Lindsay took a book from her bag and opened it. The title of the book was "A Dog named Christmas," what Connor could see from his position. Lindsay leaned back in her bed, read a few lines and then put the book on the bedside table. "Even the people in the book have a better Christmas than me," she said, got up and reached for the TV remote control. She zaps randomly through the channels and stopped at a Christmas movie.  
"She needed a lot of motivation to ask you if you want to come to skiing with her," the angel who looked like Anton, leaned slightly to him, "Instead, she spends the holidays at work and then she sits alone in her hotel room, watching "Miracle on 34th street" on television. You spoiled her Christmas."  
"How do you want to know ...?"  
"I can hear what she thinks," the voice of the angel sounded very mysterious. He nodded and the next moment they were in the meeting room of the mobile lab. Connor looked at himself, who sat at the table and studied his files. He didn´t even look up when Lindsay walked into the room. She seemed really nervous. She felt unpleasant to disturb him. Excited, she grabbed for one of the rings she wore on her finger. "Um ... ... I wanted to ask. I ...", she stammered and Connor and the angel could hear, as she thought: "Look at me, at least when I make a fool of myself. Don´t do this to me."  
Lindsay finally swallowed. "I wanted to ask if you´re available on Christmas and maybe you want to come skiing with me?" In her mind she kept repeating: "Please say yes. Please say yes."  
"No, thank you. Here is a lot of work for me." The Connor, who was sitting at the table, apparently thought it wasn´t necessary to look at her and he didn´t register how disappointed and sad she looked. He really hadn´t noticed but now he regretted he had turned her away. Like frozen he watched as Lindsay left the meeting room and he remained sitting at the table alone. She obviously wanted to be together with him, because ...  
"It is raining," the angel said to him. Now Connor also heard as the rain beat down on the roof. "So what?", he asked.  
"You understand nothing," said the angel, "It will rain on Christmas when you or your friends are unhappy. Year by year. Come on, let's see what Peter does. He, Anton and Lindsay had just stopped in the hotel..." After the angel had said that they were in a bar and watched as Peter drank one beer after another.  
"Very happy holidays," said the angel and he meant ironically. The Angel of Christmas Present and Connor sat down next to him at the bar. Connor on the left, the angel on the right. They observed furthermore, as Peter was drinking a glass of brandy and then the bartender asked him if he should call a taxi.  
"No," muttered Peter, "you have no idea how it is if you spend Christmas alone." Now he even got hiccup. "My Boss is an Idiot. We can´t go home, not even for the holidays, so I can´t visit my sister... Instead, I sit here and talk to you... I always thought Elsinger would be a fool but Doyle does it much better than Elsinger ever could... "  
Connor was not surprised Peter was mad about him was because he had to work during Christmas and but he heard for the first time he was an Idiot. Peter wasn´t done with his speech: Drunk, he waved an empty shot glass in his hands and told: "The sad thing is that he didn´t even notice my colleague has a crush on him... Everyone sees it... Exc... Except for him... I hope she soon realizes that he", Peter got dizzy," ...is a huge idiot... and he isn´t worth it..." That was the last thing he said, then he keeled over and the bartender called a man who looked like a taxi driver. They found a hotel key in Peter's pocket and the bartender said to the taxi driver, he should take there Peter.  
Connor and the Angel of Christmas Present were sitting at the counter of the bar. At this moment, Connor really felt like an idiot. He hadn´t seen the signs about Lindsay was in love with him. Everyone knew, but Connor didn´t. He asked himself how blind he actually was...?  
"Should we now see what Anton is doing tonight?", Connor asked and the angel looked at him. "No. From reliable sources I know Anton is already asleep by this time."  
"What do we do here?"  
"We can leave anytime."  
"Aren´t you usually in threes?", asked Connor and the angel knew what he meant. "I can promise he hadn´t forgotten you," said the angel. He was talking about the Angel of Christmas Future and Connor was incredibly excited about the one who showed him how he would ruin other people´s Christmas in the future!  
Before Connor could ask anything, he was in a dark tunnel and the angel and the bar where they had been sitting had vanished. He heard a woman sing:

_Listen up to what I gotta say _  
_I found true love and it's here to stay _  
_Chapel bells are gonna ring in May _  
_I met an angel on Christmas day _

_24th of December _  
_It was a cold and snowy night _  
_I can still remember _  
_Gazing at the stars and the moonlight _  
_Fell asleep on the sofa bed _  
_Dreams of Christmas in my head _  
_I awoke to my surprise _  
_There he was right before my eyes ("I met an angel on Christmas Day" by Celine Dion) _

A Christmas song sounded on the radio as Connor woke up in the meeting room next morning. Still tired, he raised his head and tried to figure out exactly where the music was coming from. Last night he hadn´t turned the radio on and he hadn´t made an alarm clock. Then he remembered this strange dream and decided it must have been a dream. After all, it was so absurd, it couldn´t possibly be true...  
Connor watched as Peter was in front of the meeting room to pour himself a cup of coffee. Connor slowly got up and went out to Peter. "Good morning," he said, but Peter didn´t answer. "Well," thought Connor, "He´s still angry."  
"We don´t talk anymore?", asked Connor and Peter didn´t answer. Instead, he marched to his jacket, put it on and left the mobile lab. Now Anton entered the lab. "Good morning, Connor," he said, "In our client´s house strange things occurred last night. He wants to see us... Come out if you're ready. The rest of the team is waiting outside." With these words Anton went out again and Connor was alone. He decided he could have breakfast later. So he took his jacket and left the lab.  
Connor was on his way to the van, in which the team was already waiting when everything around him went dark again...

Around him was darkness. Far and wide was nothing. Connor wondered what would probably expect him when a very familiar voice suddenly said "Hi" behind him and he turned around. The person what stood in front of him looked like him but the man was dressed completely in black, he was quite pale and he had a strange expression on his face.  
"Who are you?", Connor had to ask this question.  
"I am the future."  
"You are me."  
The angel nodded and Connor knew what would follow now. "Let me guess: You show me my future."  
"You already see," said the angel and Connor didn´t understand. Around him all was dark. "This is my future?", he said, "I don´t see anything."  
"What do you think, what you see when you're dead?"  
He was shocked by this direct question. He should be dead? This darkness and cold should be its future? No, it couldn´t be true! Why would he...?  
"There´s not much to see in your future," said the angel, "Instead, I´ll show you what can happen if you don´t die... because you still have the chance to get it right. So let's take a look at your possible future..."

The place where they were now, was defiantly his house. It had changed a bit: so the wall color in the bedroom had changed into a warm peach. In the bed, a man was laying and it was clearly Connor himself, who slept there. The Connor Doyle he could see was in his bed on the morning of Christmas Day, enjoying the free time. It was warm and cozy and he wasn´t in the mood to get up, although it was already light outside and a few snowflakes fell softly from the sky. "Honey?", said a voice on the other side of the bed and Connor recognized her immediately. She was here! With... Well, at least with his future self...  
"What?", Connor asked, half asleep and glanced at the clock. The clock showed 10:10 p.m. "Twenty minutes," he murmured, stretching. Still tired, he turned around, threw his arms around his wife and said he had dreamed last night he was a member of ABBA. "Thank you for the music" he had to sing before a large audience. Lindsay giggled with closed eyes and she slept on. "That's nice ...," he said suddenly.  
"What?"  
"What you´re doing with my knee ...", he muttered.  
"I´m not doing anything," said Lindsay and looked at him. At the same time they looked under the covers. "Paula", Lindsay said first and discovered a black guinea pig. At that moment the bedroom door opened and two dark-haired girls rushed in. One of them was a bit smaller than the other girl.  
Lindsay rolled her eyes. Children were sometimes so terribly unromantic.  
"Mommy!", said the older girl and hopped on the bed, "Mommy, Paula run away again!"  
"She didn´t run away," said Connor, who was holding the black fur ball in his hands. The guinea pig squealed when the girl took it in her arms. Connor asked her if she hadn´t locked Paula's cage right and the girl said no.  
Meanwhile, Connor, who was accompanied by the angel, looked very surprised about the children. He had never seen them before. "Who are those two?", he asked.  
"This are Hayley and Fiona, your children." The Angel and Connor watched as the two girls went out and the other Connor got up. He got dressed and said goodbye to his wife and told her he had an appointment. Apparently she did not know what he meant, because she stayed in bed with a puzzled face. In addition, today was Christmas, which appointment could he have? When he left the house, she also left her bed.  
A short time later Connor and the Angel of Future Christmas watched her how she gift- wrapped a present. Under the big Christmas tree in the living room were already the gifts for their children. The gift that she packed now was for their best friends. Connor could smell Christmas cookies and he noted Lindsay in the future had a little over the top with Christmas decorations: There was no place in the house which wasn´t decorated with angels and Santa Claus. As he noted later, the house was decorated from the outside all over with fairy lights. From up above it maybe looked like an airport.  
Someone rang the doorbell. Because Lindsay wasn´t in the mood to cook. So she ordered food by a caterer... The kids asked if they could open their presents and her mom told, they had to wait until her daddy and uncle were there.  
Lindsay's husband was now already gone for an hour. Hayley and Fiona were still in their pajamas, playing in front of the tree with Christmas decorations, which they took from the window sills. Waiting for the gifts was the worst about Christmas, they thought.  
"Hey you two. You don´t want to get dressed?", asked their mom and noticed how a car parked in the garage. It was her husband. With a strange facial expression he entered the house and took her hand. "Come with me," he said, and took her back outside. Fiona and Hayley stayed in the house. At the door he told his wife she should close her eyes and she did. Then he took her hand again, warned her of a stage and as they walked together through the cold snow, Lindsay laughed softly. "Where are we going?", she asked, but he didn´t answer. Instead, he turned on the light in the garage and led her inside.  
"What´s the big secret?", she asked.  
Connor and the Angel of the Future Christmas sat on the roof of the car and watched the scene. Of course they couldn´t be seen.  
"You can open your eyes now," said Connor, who had taken something out of the trunk. "Wow, we are in our garage," Lindsay smiled at him and pulled the thin sweater tightly around herself, "Very mysterious."  
"Can we pretend at least?", her husband smiled and came to her with a box without a cover. "Just look in there," he said. Lindsay looked into the box.  
"You like it?", he asked and she nodded. In the box sat a puppy with golden fur.  
"We decided not to buy a dog for Christmas?", she remembered, took the puppy out of the box and pressed it to her. The puppy whimpered. If Fiona and Hayley would care for the dog as much as they care for their guinea pig...  
"Yes, but when I saw Henry, I knew he´s our dog. He was the last puppy from his litter, waiting at the animal shelter for a new home. One more day without someone who took him home they would have euthanized him."  
"Okay, you won", Lindsay agreed. With Henry on the arm, they both went back into the house, where Fiona and Hayley still played in the living room. They were delighted about the little dog with golden fur. Henry obviously felt right at home with his new family: Joyfully he romped around the two children and barked cheeky.  
"Come on, now get dressed!", said Lindsay to the girls and Hayley and Fiona pounded up the stairs to their rooms. Henry followed them. Lindsay shook her head amused and her hair, which she had tied in a pony tail danced across her shoulder.  
"This was a very nice gift," she then said to her husband and kissed him lovingly, "I love you." He expressed his thanks for the compliment, he explained he also loved her very much and they heard a loud rumbling upstairs again. Fiona and Hayley were dressed. As they came downstairs, Fiona saw another gray car parking in front of the house. "Uncle Peter is here!", said Fiona and hurried to the door. She closed her eyes because the light faded her and Lindsay picked her up. "Hey Peter," she said, "Your right light is broken."  
"Yes, that's the reason why he dives for months with passing light", teased Mona, Peter's wife. Mona was Connor's younger sister. She had met Peter at Connors and Lindsay´s wedding. Two years later Peter and Mona were married. Since that, they spent the holidays together.  
Mona hugged Lindsay in laughing then the family went back inside. Outside it was still snowing and the air was ice cold. They also wear no jackets.  
The Angel of Christmas future and Connor watched the family how they opened the presents, as the family had lunch, then they wanted to go outside with Henry. It was a beautiful but cold day.  
"Why do you show me all this?", Connor asked at some point.  
"So you see what you´re missing if you go my way," said the Angel of Christmas Future. Through the window they saw how Connor stood on the frozen pond, holding Hayley´s hands. He tried to teach his daughter ice skating. Henry hopped around them on the ice and he slipped.  
"You´d be a very good father," said the Angel of Christmas Future and a wistful look was in his eyes. He missed her. He missed Lindsay very much.  
Finally he looked at Connor: "The perfect family life: You´re having a beautiful wife, two lovely children, nice friends and a dog named Henry ... If you would marry Lindsay... Otherwise you'll end up like me and I don´t think it´s what you want."  
Connor thought he should have better accept Lindsay's invitation to skiing.  
"You're right," said his opponent, who had read his thoughts, "Basically you can´t imagine anything better than the idea to spend the nights with the woman of your dreams in a secluded, romantic country cottage. Instead, my dark future awaits you. You´re alone. You're dead. You´re apart from the woman you love."  
"How do you know ..?"  
"I'm you, remember?", the other Connor shrugged, "I know you ... And maybe you should travel with her, not only for skiing, you know?... Maybe you should take a break till February… or longer…. Ask her if she wants to spend her holiday with you... And maybe she wants to spend her life with you."  
The rest of the day passed by quickly for Connor: in the evening the family went to church together, then the kids were in bed and at last silence reigned in the house. Connor and Lindsay sat down together on the couch and made themselves comfortable in front of the fireplace.  
"Let's go," said the Angel of Christmas Future and Connor looked at him in surprise. He would have loved to stay longer, but he knew it wasn´t possible. With a gust of wind the back door of the house opened, a small snow drift came in and the angel stepped outside into the darkness. Connor took a last look in the living room: Only the lights on the Christmas tree sparkled. He was already on the way to the back door when he heard a slight noise on the stairs. It was Fiona who wanted to take Henry to his bed. She put the puppy on the floor and grabbed a yellow ball, "Henry, come on, catch the ball!", said Fiona quietly to the dog, threw a tennis ball through the hallway. Her Mom had forbidden her to play with balls in house, but the dog was literally begging for it. The ball rolled on the floor and stopped right next to Connor's foot. He picked up the ball and in that moment Fiona saw him. "Hi, Daddy," she said to him and he was warm, when he heard it. Connor put the ball in his pocket and went outside ...

"I think he wakes up," Connor heard a clear voice and he opened his eyes. At first he could see only three vague outlines, then his view cleared. Anton, Peter and Lindsay, had bent over him and watched at him with concern. As Connor noted, he was in the medical bed of the mobile lab. His head ached horribly.  
"What happened?", he asked, rose and his neck began to ache.  
"You slipped on a frozen puddle outside. A fairly serious crash", said Lindsay. Connor searched in his jacket pocket. For a moment he had thought everything was just a dream, but when he held the yellow tennis ball in his hands, he knew everything was real. Lindsay was not surprised too much on the ball but she hadn´t seen what he had experienced.  
"...But we are glad you feel better now," added Anton and Connor looked confused.  
"What ... uh ...", he began, "What do you think when you take time off during the holidays?"  
Now the team was more confused. Connor had been seriously injured in his fall?  
"How long exactly can we stay at home?", asked Peter now and Anton didn´t dare to interrupt his question. Finally, he also had something better to do on Christmas, than to process this case.  
"We talk about it on the phone on the third of January," said Connor and Anton and Peter now left the room. He was alone with Lindsay. She still looked a bit incredulous. She didn´t understand why he sent everybody home. Connor watched eagerly each of her movements as she cleared away some medical instruments for Anton. She was such an incredible woman, Connor thought. Confused, Lindsay went past him and he thought for a moment whether he should hold her back and...  
His reflexes were clearly faster than his head because he grabbed her wrist, pulled her into his arms and kissed her. Lindsay returned the kiss.  
"What was that?", she asked breathlessly.  
"I don´t know," he said, but that wasn´t not true. He wanted to begin his wonderful future with her as quickly as possible. "I should have kissed you long time ago, remember?"  
Of course, she still remembered last year, as they stood together on the wooden bridge and had almost kissed.  
"I was wondering if you still would spend Christmas with me? Maybe... we can also take a break and travel", he smiled at her and didn´t expect that she nodded. "I would love to spend the holiday with you." She truly loved the idea.  
Together they went to the door. They were the last who left the mobile lab. "It's snowing," Lindsay realized when she was outside and a snowflake melted in her palm. That was for a very long time the first Christmas where it was snowing. And she was happy ...

Fin


End file.
